


Freud, Et Al

by duckiesinaline



Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Legacy (2010)
Genre: Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-12
Updated: 2012-03-12
Packaged: 2017-11-01 20:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duckiesinaline/pseuds/duckiesinaline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was nothing in the world which would make Sam confess everything he had been up to in Alan's earshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freud, Et Al

**Author's Note:**

> I had written this a long time ago, set in Winzler's [Reset universe](http://archiveofourown.org/series/12017) (which contains "Home") and occurring not too long after [All Is Fair](http://archiveofourown.org/works/270858). I never seriously considered posting it, but after [reading this prompt and its responses](http://stalkingbit.tumblr.com/post/17645913349/prompt-past-flynn-tron-alan-awkwaaaaard) and the general Valentine air, I decided to throw it online after all.
> 
> Note that this is merely my own fevered imagination, and is not intended to be canon to the Reset universe at all. *stamps this NOT WINZLER-APPROVED*
> 
> (Was originally posted to my tumblr, forgot to cross-post here.)

Sam stared at the mass of lines and numbers hovering before him, squeezed his eyes shut tightly, then opened them wide again.  
  
Nope. They made no more sense than before.

There was a reason why he far preferred coding in the command line to graphics engines; there was something about differential geometry which made all the numbers go funny in his head. Give him a good old encryption algorithm to crack or some problem in computational complexity optimization any day. Trying to manage spatial coordinates and their translations on top of that just make his head swim.

"So, Sam ... "

Sam froze, then tried to look as fully absorbed in the light cycle schematics as he wished he could be.

"Uh, I heard that you seem to be ... well, adjusting better?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah - starting to get the hang of things," Sam waved a hand carelessly as he practically stuck his head in the middle of the projection. If he angled just a bit to the left, he could almost lose the light-limned figure of his godfather hovering in the corners of his eyes.

"Ah. Well, that's great. So ... I also heard that someone's been helping you out?"

Sam didn't know if he actually needed to _breathe_ on the Grid, but maybe testing that theory now and being proved correct by fainting in front of Alan was probably not the best way to do so. He reminded himself to inhale. Slowly. "Oh?" he said with deliberate care, hoping his voice didn't sound too high and pinched. "Who told you tha - uh, I mean, why do you say that? Lots of helpful folks 'round here - "

"It sounded like it was someone in particular ... helping you to get settled in ... taking special care - "

"Aw, c'mon, Alan, is this really something we should get into now?" Sam immediately overroad, taking refuge in familiar arguments and letting his voice take on an all-too-practiced exasperation. Tinkering with a manifold simulation to make it seem more accident than intentional when he shifted to keep his back to Alan when the man moved, he griped, "I mean, c'mon, this isn't like the Big Bad World outside."

There was a sigh, and in the ensuing silence, Sam's shoulders twitched with guilt, but really, he wasn't prepared to have this conversation yet. Maybe never. It's not even admitting to the bi part, or maybe not even the whole playing hanky-panky with what was essentially a really badass (okay, really _fine_ assed) firewall, but that he was playing hanky-panky with basically his godfather's _clone_. And even if they both knew in far-too-painful detail that Tron was his own unique personality, there was nothing in the world which would make Sam confess everything he had been up to in Alan's earshot - 

Alan took an audible breath as if to gird himself. "Tron - "

_"Jesus christ it was only a few times, okay - "_ Sam exploded. "I mean, there were gridbugs, he was close to wasted, I had an adrenaline rush and everything, and it was just a little harmless exchange of energy to get our heads screwed back on right and that other time in the cave was _so_ not my fault and I'm absolutely _sure_ that he'd had his mind made up a long time ago and I did _not_ influence him into anything he didn't want already it's _totally consential_ \- "

By this point, Sam had to pause for breath, and realized with distant panic that there was silence. Complete, flat, unbroken silence as Alan stared at him with mouth still agape on a second word that he had never managed to squeeze out past Sam's tirade, and Sam swallowed sharply as he slowly lowered his arms. "Uh ... what were you gonna say?" he asked, voice abruptly thin and small.

Alan's mouth worked as well before he finished with the distant air of a sleepwalker, " - asked me to tell you that he found the rear wheel assembly design you misplaced."

Sam might faint after all. "Oh."


End file.
